Published on
December 30, 2003 in
Movies.
Well, Hollywood has finally fulfilled a dream I have had since I was a young boy reading old sci-fi pulp fiction. They are continuing in the tradition of what I consider to be the greats, such as The War of the Worlds and Forbidden Planet. The film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is set to come out in the summer of 2004 and the trailer looks amazing. They have captured the dark gritty images of 1940’s science fiction. I especially liked the gigantic walking robots and the hazy feel of the footage. It yielded a feel much like a comic book. I think the resistance in what looked to P-51 Mustangs might add a nice touch.
The trailer must be seen if you are a fan of the genre and let me know if you are looking forward to the film as I am…
BTW, I do realize that neither of these is in my DVD collection and that must be remedied as soon as possible. I can’t allow this oversight to stand 
Published on
December 29, 2003 in
Personal.
It has been a while since I last posted, but it has been a weird week or so. First off, until this past Monday, I was still feeling the effects of being sick. The sinus infection just seemed to keep holding on…
And then this past week, well Thursday till today, I have been in South Carolina and pretty much incommunicado. I haven’t touched a computer from Christmas morning until about 7PM tonight. No, I wasn’t in withdrawals or anything, but I can say I missed my pretty little iMac. However, it was a nice trip and I picked up several new dvds from my mother in law and brother in law. They picked up some great new additions to my collection, such as Looney Tunes – The Golden Collection. This 4 disc set has around 50 some odd classic Warner Brothers cartoons and many featurettes. I have had a lot of fun looking at those.
BTW, I have added a DVD category in the toolbar above this post. Check it out if you are interested in my collection. This I am addicted to and in serious need of help
4 out of 4 stars
I haven’t had a chance to blog about Lord of the Rings: Return of the King mostly because I just haven’t felt up to it due to the lingering crud I have been in (which I now know to be a sinus infection).
It’s actually a little hard now to talk about any one of the LOTR films without considering them as a whole. While each film was absolutely wonderful, the combined work is just very impressive. I think I made a good choice after ‘Fellowship’, not to go back and re-read the books before going to see each movie. I can appreciate the films more as some of the details are a little hazy in my memory as I last read the trilogy back in high school.
One thing that speaks for itself, I think, is the collection of reviews over at Rotten Tomatoes. As of the last time I looked, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) had only 4 out of 150 negative reviews. This film seems to be wowing audiences and I truly hope Peter Jackson gets some attention from the various film awards for this film or the trilogy as a whole. He definitely deserves it…
Published on
December 17, 2003 in
Movies.
3.5 hours until Lord of the Rings: ROTK and I am still damn sick. I am currently taking Zicam and Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold (was taking Suphedrin). You would think I could have kicked this thing by now, but I am determined not to let it taint my movie going experience.
As of earlier, ROTK was still holding at a 97% freshness rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I just can’t see any way this movie is not going to rock…
Published on
December 15, 2003 in
Personal.
Now I just have to get rid of the last of my cold before Wednesday night’s showing of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I have been waiting to see how Peter Jackson will handle the conclusion of the trilogy. I have been very happy so far, even when he deviates from the books. I understand that film is a different medium and as such needs different pacing, different handling of complex events, etc.
Wednesday should be, by all reviews I have heard, one hell of a night…
Published on
December 15, 2003 in
Personal.
So, Heather allowed me to open my Christmas gift early as I was taking Vegas out to Umstead State Park. I am really enjoying using the GPS and there are just a huge number of features.
While in SC to visit my mother-in-law and brother-in-law, I am planning on taking some info on various geocaches, so that I can begin getting into the sport (or game, or whatever it is). Looks to be a lot of fun and there is an active group locally, TriangleGeocachers, that I am planning on getting involved with.
Published on
December 11, 2003 in
news.
Based on some of the feedback I have received, I added a “feeds” page with RSS 2.0, 1.0, and 0.91 links. The RSS 2.0 format includes the new option of full article text rather than a simple excerpt.
I know I will be adding more in the future, but I wanted to become a little more knowledgeable about the RSS specifications before I venture out further.
Published on
December 10, 2003 in
TV.
So, I am in part 2 of the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries on Sci-Fi and I am really enjoying it. They have taken some real latitude with the story-line, but they did it in a way that honors the memory of the B-grade original. One particularly interesting change is they changed the womanizer pilot into a female pilot. She does seems to have some of the same character traits.
The approach is slow but deliberate and has some good storytelling and character development. I would continue to watch if they make additional miniseries or better yet, a regular television series. It is definitely worth checking out…
I guess my only question at this point is can all future robots who plan to ‘kill us all’ also be Victoria’s Secret models?
3 out of 4 stars
Bad Santa is true to it’s name… Billy Bob Thornton plays a mall Santa that is simply a despicable human being. However, for the period of time this movie traces the life of a drunk Santa/Conman, I got the chance to sit back and enjoy a mindless dark comedy.
There is nothing very deep in this movie. It has multiple layers of profanity (not that there’s anything wrong with that ), deranged characters, defacement of a national childhood character, and sexual comedy and innuendo. Now all of this can be funny if you’re in the mood for it, but make no mistake, THIS IS NOT A MOVIE FOR CHILDREN. This is not the innocent Airplane! type of humor. This is raunchy adult oriented comedy that has little to no redeeming value. There is a slim plot-line, but if you can enjoy the humor then you will largely not care that the story doesn’t evolve much.
Heather and I both thought this was a laugh out loud funny movie, but it is definitely not everyone. Most of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive while the general feeling of the average viewer on IMDB seems to be negative. Most of the negative reviews didn’t really seem to be prepared for what was coming or they couldn’t find humor is Bad Santa’s blend of humor.
If you’re unsure, I would suggest the dollar theater or waiting for the DVD, but I recommend this movie at least at a matinee level.
Published on
December 6, 2003 in
Personal.
Could anyone with Windows who uses IE for their browser confirm if the site looks better now? I have made some changes that I believe will help and it seems to continue to look right under Safari and Mozilla. Unfortunately, or fortunately 
, I have no Windows systems at home on which to test this…
